Sunday, 15 January 2017

PATRIOTISM - A FEELING OF LOYALTY

Today, on
the 69th Army Day -15 January 2017, my country salutes the comrades
in arms who have always been ready to sacrifice their lives in the line of
duty. To think of it, it must not be very easy to selflessly commit oneself for
the safety of others; to relentlessly vigil the challenging frontiers across
some of the most perilous terrain in the world or to come rushing to help
during natural calamities. Besides great bravery, sacrifice and passion to lay
down one’s life for a cause, it must be needing great love for the nation.

A whisper here
reminds me of the story of Chittagong of the early twentieth century where a
large number of teenage boys were led into a revolutionary movement by their
school master Surya Sen, to revolt against the British. What a passion they
had! Can those today, who are arguing whether to sit or stand during the
national anthem understand such intense enthusiasm? On the one side, we have those
who daringly commit themselves to achieve the highest level of security
consciousness so that the people of our country can move about their daily life
in peace, and on the other, we sadly have some who seem violently vexed
about issues regarding the standing or the sitting when the national anthem is
being played. Could somebody tell them that respect is inborn and cannot be
forced? My country it appears is getting divided into hyper and lethargic
nationalists. The Supreme Court order regarding the national anthem to be
played in cinemas has been inviting two extremist opinions. What I feel is that
though the court assumed that the anthem would instill greater pride in the
nationals for their nation, it overlooked the fact that a majority of the
nationals today have been born in a free land and therefore have no real idea
of the pains of bondage.

Honestly, it
isn’t surprising to see the political stuntmen then disguised in robes of love
for the nation, fearlessly crossing limits of domination. They are the
self-styled patriots who can unflinchingly attack the young, the careless, the
unaware or the modernists who refuse to stand up for the anthem. Can you blame
a child who swims in the ocean of corruption with political sharks all around
him and only a few honest anchors of help of great leaders from his text books,
to have respect for his nation? Couldn’t they for a moment give a thought for
reasons of such behaviour? Couldn’t it be possible that these are the people
who have not been brought up on stories of freedom fighters but feed on dramas
of corrupt politicians? Couldn’t it be that they have no real time idea of what
living in their own land but being ruled by another would be like? Couldn’t it
just be as simple as someone who was on a wheelchair was standing up
emotionally though his legs didn’t permit him to do so physically?

As instances
of reckless students getting thrashed in Chennai, or a disabled man getting
abused in Goa come to light, it is probable that the joy of going to cinema
halls will soon get transformed into fear of the wrath of vigilantes. Then,
instead of instilling love and pride for the nation, the playing of the anthem
will be likely to promote riot like situations in the country where then, the
police will have to be present to stop violence arising out of a strange couch
potato kind of love for the country.

Bedabrata
Pain’s film ‘Chittagong’ is a worth watch today. Though some would argue that
the school master Surya Sen did wrong in making revolutionaries out of
teenagers to raid an armory of the police and destroy the telegraph and
railways in order to isolate Chittagong from the rest of the British India, wasn’t
it better than today’s teenagers becoming rapists, molesters and rioters. The
film is about the rise of passion for the nation in a thirteen year old Subodh
Roy popularly known as Jhunku who passed away in the year 2006; but I wonder what
his thoughts on the anthem controversy would have been if he were to be alive
today. This is a tale that all those who are unable to decide whether to sit or
stand during the playing of the national anthem, must watch.

If we
believe that patriotism is a sentiment latently present in every true Indian’s
heart, we would never have faced a question of arousing patriotic sentiments.
Reality though, shows a different picture. A majority of cinema goers today are
in a rush to leave the theatre if the anthem is shown after the film and if it
is played before the screening, they probably prefer to buy popcorns. We have
reached a stage where we as a country need advertising skills to draw the
attention and respect of our common country men and women towards our national
anthem. Don’t you remember the silent national anthem by the children of India
and the one sung by transgenders?

What a
pity! A country which once upon a time
had to fight for freedom from a foreign rule and later got partitioned in caste
hatred is today after 69 years of independence, at the risk of forgetting the
real joy of being independent and instead is wasting its time in thinking
whether to stand or sit.

What a pity!
The school teacher Surya Sen, who got captured by the British in 1933 had to
suffer tortures where his teeth were broken using a hammer, his nails plucked
out, his limbs broken and then was dragged unconscious to the rope; and all
that for useless arguments of the correctness of standing or sitting for the
anthem.

What a pity!
We, who got freedom on a platter have willingly suspended the belief in the
awesomeness of the sacrifices of our freedom angels and are shamelessly
indecisive about something as simple as standing in respect to the national
anthem in memory of those who cared enough to lay their lives for our
independence.

What a pity!
That our leaders have not been able to instill love for the nation in our youth
and instead prefer force of discipline.

What a pity!
How forgetful have we become of those glorious sacrifices of lives for our nation
and instead are so immersed in the present dislike of corrupt politicians that
we are missing out on the woods of overwhelming splendour because we are busy
counting individual trees of inappropriate leadership.

What a pity!
The extraordinary glory of the past which needs a standing ovation, has its
ordinary citizens today sitting complacently unconcerned.

Visitors

Ruby Malshe

Ruby Malshe lives in India, teaches at Wilson College in Mumbai and believes there is a story unfolding every minute somewhere in this beautiful world. One only needs to be attentive to notice it, hold it in ones heart and hum it out to listening ears. The world may in its turn catch it, let it seep deep within and allow it to grow beautifully.